ATTACKS on ambulance staff are down because bosses are taking action in the courts.

There have been 80 physical attacks on staff from the West Midlands Amb-ulance Service NHS Trust so far this financial year, down from 94 in the previous 12 months.

Verbal assaults against staff are also down to 151 from 172 over the same period of time.

The figures were discussed as part of a six-month update on physical and non-physical assaults at a meeting of the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust board at Sixways Stadium on the outskirts of Worcester.

Diane Lee, director of corporate services, said: “It is pleasing to note that the number of both physical and verbal assaults have reduced compared to last year.”

The West Midlands Ambulance Service had the third highest reported number of total assaults – verbal and physical – in 2008/09 out of the 11 ambulance trusts operating in England.

Staff at the trust are the second most likely to be assaulted in the country with 45.5 attacks recorded for each 1,000 staff. The only highter recorded rate was in London.

However, the trust has also helped secure the highest number of successful prosecutions against attackers in the country – 55 compared with 47 in the East Midlands which has the second highest number of successful prosecutions.

A prosecution could inc-lude a fine, community work or in some cases a custodial sentence imposed in a criminal court.

Anthony Marsh, chief executive of the trust, has always made it clear that he will pursue a “zero tolerance” approach to att-acks on his staff, both verbal and physical.

Diane Lee, director of corporate services, said the fall in the number of attacks could also be down to conflict resolution training. The trust has been teaching frontline staff how to better manage difficult and potentially violent situations.

More than half (55 per cent) of the ambulance trust’s 3,045 staff have been trained, which is more than what trust chiefs had expected.

All members of staff should have been trained by February 2010.